Quicksand
by Durnesque
Summary: Eiji convinces Oishi that he's buried himself in quicksand. Friendship, mostly.


A short story about the bond between Eiji and Oishi. No pairings.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Prince of Tennis or Harry Potter/ Indiana Jones references.

"Are you sure you want me to do this?" I asked uncertainly. "We've tried this before and you always make up some dumb excuse to get out of it."

"They are not dumb," Eiji said indignantly. "They were all very serious and I am going to stand by them all."

I sighed, brushing sand off my legs. It was a perfect day for the beach; a comfortably warm temperature without a cloud in the sky. Eiji had a built in beach day radar sensor in his brain, and never hesitated to call me up at ridiculous hours of the morning to tell me that we were going to the beach. There was no exception for today, and I was already finding myself exhausted from getting up at 4 in the morning.

"Oh please, Eiji. Every time I bury you in the sand, you insist there is something underneath the surface threatening your life."

"Yeah? Like what?" he said in a snarky tone. He crossed his arms across his chest, staring me in the eyes.

"Okay, like last time we came to the beach. I buried you and you insisted that sand mites were crawling into your shorts and biting you."

"They were!" he shouted, his eyes wide.

"They were not!" I said in a calm tone. "Wet sand makes you itch, and as soon as you rinsed yourself off, you were fine."

"Okay, so that was one time."

"And the time before that, when you said that you had buried yourself in the plants that suck underneath the earth like they do in Harry Potter."

"Okay, that was a legit excuse," he argued.

"Eiji, that doesn't exist."

Eiji seemed to have run out of arguments. "Please, Oishi! Please, please, please, please, please- ."

"Okay!" I said, loud enough for him to hear over his own begging. "If you dig the hole, I will bury you."

"Yay!" he shouted, and then scurried off to a patch of sand right next to where our towels were. He really went at it, scooping sand a million miles per hour. I waded into the water, letting the warm liquid soothe my aching muscles. This was one thing I really liked about Eiji, he never complained that his muscles hurt, or even showed any signs of fatigue until he passed out. A good ten minutes passed, and Eiji didn't stop digging. I relaxed in the water, watching the tiny fish explore my feet.

"Oishi!" Eiji called ecstatically. He waved for me to come over. His arms were coated in the thick, wet sand yet he had the biggest smile on his face. He threw himself in the hole as I made my way over to him.

"Are you sure about this? I do not want to have to dig you out a minute after I'm done."

"I am 100% positive."

"Okay…" I started to push sand on him, listening to a song he was making up. He was so full of joy all the time. "There you go," I said proudly, admiring my work. He was completely buried beneath the sand except for his head, which was bobbing side to side with his song.

"Thanks Oishi!"

I grinned at the goofball. It was times like these when I knew why I called him my best friend. I headed back to the water, a smile on my face.

"Wait, Oishi!" he called, suddenly panicky.

"What?" I asked, irritated. Now comes the part where I regret being his friend and wishing I was here with Tezuka instead.

"I think you buried me in quicksand!!!" he shouted, struggling to get free. "I'm going to die!"

"1, you dug the hole. You should have noticed it was quicksand. And 2, this is a beach. There is NO quicksand."

"How do you know?! You've never buried yourself!"

"Eiji, I am NOT unburying you. I came here to relax, not dig in the sand."

"Oishi! I'm sinking!"

"You are not sinking! I don't understand why you want me to bury you if you're afraid of being buried."

"In a matter of minutes the sand is going to be up my nose, and then I'll be dead. And then you'll ask yourself why you were being so mean to me and how your last words to me were how you didn't want to save my life."

"Eiji, you aren't in quicksand."

"Would you tell my siblings I love them?" he said dramatically. I turned to leave. He was being stupid.

"Oishi!" he cried. "Don't leave me!"

"I have half a mind to leave you there all night." I said bitterly.

"PLEASE!" he cried, his puppy dog face in full effect. "The only reason I ever want you to bury me is so we can be together. I like being with my best friend."

I stopped. Eiji had his moments, and this was one of them. I turned back to him. He had stopped struggling, and now just looked sad.

"So you're sure this is quicksand?" I asked with a sigh.

He nodded his head vigorously, a smile back on his face. I knelt by his side and hurriedly scooped up the sand that was holding him down. When about half of it was gone, he kicked himself free, breathing heavily on the ground beside me.

"That was scary," he breathed.

"You're welcome," I said, heading back to the water. I was up to my waist in water when I heard splashing behind me. I turned around just in time to see Eiji sprinting towards me, breaking into a dive. He collided with me, and fell into the water. When we resurfaced, he was smiling and shaking water out of his hair.

"You're such a goofball," I laughed, rubbing my eyes.

"But I'm your goofball, right?" he asked innocently, moving his hair out of his face.

I could feel the warm smile creeping on to my face. "Yeah, you're my goofball."


End file.
